Generate and validate the MAC value

Validate that the value of the API Key is the value you expect, then validate the value of the MAC parameter:

  1. Order the API Key and other parameters alphabetically by parameter name.
  2. Concatenate the values of the parameters in that order in a single string.
  3. Add the Shared Secret value from the Grades Journey configuration screen to the string obtained from the previous step.
  4. Encrypt the string into a 16-byte string using the MD5 algorithm (see the following examples).
  5. Convert the 16-byte string to a 32-byte alphanumeric (hexadecimal) string for URL support.
  6. Compare your generated MAC with the generated MAC from Learn that was passed in the request.

Java Example

/**
* Calculates a secure MAC (message authentication code) from an array of strings and
shared secret.
* @param values – Parameters must first be sorted alphabetically by parameter name, then
the values of these sorted parameters passed to calculateSecureMac
* @param secret - the shared secret
* @return The calculated MAC
*/
private String calculateSecureMAC (final String[] values, final String secret) throws
NoSuchAlgorithmException
{
// concatenate param values
final int size = values.length;
String paramString = "";
for(int i=0; i<size; i++)
{
paramString += values[i];
}
// get md5 hash from ascii value and secret
final MessageDigest md = MessageDigest.getInstance("MD5");
final byte[] hashBytes = md.digest((paramString + secret).getBytes());
md.reset();
// convert to hex
String mac = "";
String hexByte;

for (int k=0; k<hashBytes.length; k++)
{
hexByte = Integer.toHexString(hashBytes[k] < 0 ? hashBytes[k] + 256 : hashBytes[k]);
mac += (hexByte.length()==1) ? "0" + hexByte : hexByte;
}
return mac;

PHP Example

/* Calculates a MAC (message authentication code) from an array of strings and a secret.
Sort request parameters alphabetically by parameter name first, then pass values of sorted
parameters and shared secret to calculateSecureMac */
function calculateSecureMac($params, $secret)
{
// concatenate param values
$data = implode('', $params);
// get md5 of concatenated param values and secret
$mac = md5($data . $secret);
return $mac;
}

Perl Example

use Digest::MD5;
# Calculates a MAC (message authentication code) from an array of strings and a secret. Sort request parameters alphabetically by parameter name first, then pass values of sorted parameters and shared secret to calculateSecureMac
sub calculateSecureMac
{
my @args = @_;
$secret = pop(@args);
# concatenate param values
$data = join("", @args);
# get md5 of concatenated param values and secret
$ctx = Digest::MD5->new;
$ctx->add($data . $secret);
$mac = $ctx->hexdigest;
return $mac;
}